Rising Ballers: The next midfield duo running Barcelona
The 2000s and 2010s gave us Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta, the original duo who bossed the midfield for both Barcelona and the Spanish National Team. They won everything together — a World Cup, two European Championships, the Champions League (twice) and too many La Liga titles to count.
Together with Lionel Messi, the Spanish duo dominated matches with their passing, creativity and vision. They recycled play expertly, moving their opponents around with quick combinations before exploding forward to score goal after goal. Ever since Xavi left to finish his career in Qatar in 2015, Barcelona haven’t looked the same.
Next time you flick on a Barcelona or Spain game, if you’re not paying full attention, it might seem like Xavi and Iniesta are still playing.
Except, Xavi and Iniesta are gone. These young men replicating the iconic partnership are Pedri and Gavi.
Pedri and Gavi are no longer “hidden gems.” If you follow European soccer, or even if you just watched Spain at the World Cup, you know their names. But they deserve praise right now, because if Barcelona win La Liga, Pedri and Gavi will have won it for them.
While it’s easy to reduce them to a Xavi and Iniesta tribute act, the two young Spaniards are central to what Barcelona have accomplished this season. With Xavi as the team’s manager (who better to learn from?), Barcelona sit in first place in the La Liga table with 53 points after 20 matches played. If they continue on their current pace of 2.65 points per game, Barcelona will finish with around 100 points in La Liga. Considering the club’s myriad issues on and off the pitch in recent seasons, a turnaround of this magnitude in Xavi’s first full season is extraordinary.
In 26 La Liga and Champions League matches, Pedri has started 22 games and appeared off the bench in three more. Gavi has started 19 and was substituted in a further six times. Remember, Pedri is just 20 years old and Gavi turned 18 shortly before the season began. For two players this young to have this much responsibility on any team is ludicrous, much less for the likely champions of Spain.
Xavi has empowered his team to dominate the ball, in classic Barcelona fashion. But the La Blaugrana don’t hold the ball for no purpose. Xavi has implemented Pep Guardiola-esque concepts to supercharge Barcelona’s attack. Guardiola coached Xavi during their epic run from 2008-2012 and has turned Manchester City into the best possession-based team in world football.
Without Pedri and Gavi, Xavi would be unable to execute his vision. Gavi has the skillset of a midfielder, but recently Xavi has employed him higher up the pitch, nominally as a left winger in a 4-3-3 formation. Except, Gavi does not hug the left touchline in attack like a traditional winger.
The teenager occupies a position just in front of the opposition’s back line, with left-back Jordi Alba to the outside and striker Robert Lewandowski in the central area. That allows Gavi to receive the ball with space in a dangerous area and turn in either direction. He has the option to pass outside to Alba, who can cross the ball high or low, or feed Lewandowski through the middle.
Gavi can dribble effectively as well. At 5-foot-8, he has a low center of gravity and relishes the opportunity to push forward with the ball at his feet. According to FBref, he averages 2.11 progressive carries and 1.47 successful take-ons per match. The take-ons number is particularly impressive, ranking 93rd percentile among Europe’s top leagues.
As effective as Gavi has been as a forward, his future should lie in the midfield. His positional versatility allows Xavi to experiment and surprise opponents, but ultimately Gavi has the instincts of a midfielder, not the pure goal-scoring instinct Barcelona needs on the wing to eventually become Champions League contenders.
Pedri can also play out wide from time to time, but ever since he made his Barça debut at 17 years old, Pedri has become one of Europe’s most dangerous midfield facilitators. He is a complete player who contributes in all areas of the pitch. Pedri plays alongside Sergio Busquets, Barcelona’s elder statesman in midfield, but has more license to push forward and contribute directly to goals.
Despite starting in a deeper position than Gavi, Pedri produces more shot-creating action than Gavi, with 4.17 per match. That puts him in the top 5% of the most aggressively-attacking midfielders in Europe. Pedri creates these opportunities using his elite patience and vision.
Pedri likes to sit back, playing a few passes back-and-forth with Busquets or another midfield teammate to move an opposing defender out of position, before exploding forward into the box when the space opens up in front of him. When charging forward, he can play a one-two with a Barcelona forward, either passing to a player in a position to shoot or testing the goalkeeper himself.
Both players have well-rounded skillsets. Both can score and create. Both have already proven central to Barcelona and the Spanish National Team. They started all four of Spain’s matches at the World Cup in Qatar.
Xavi and Iniesta did not play in the same Barcelona team until Iniesta was 18 and Xavi was 22. Having first played together at 16 and 18, Gavi and Pedri already have a head start.
It would be incredulous if they managed to win more trophies than Xavi and Iniesta did, but at their current pace, Gavi and Pedri’s careers will be just as illustrious.
Jack Hallinan is a sophomore writing about the top wonderkids in mens and womens soccer in his column “Rising Ballers.”